The "Fun Spot of the Desert" is now a haunting ruin, and a reminder that putting a water park in a desert is a bad idea.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

The site of murders and Satanic cult gatherings.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

An Old West film set seen in countless TV shows and movies is open for the public to explore.

The first life claimed by this record-breaking peak wasn't lost to exposure or a fall but rather lightning.

Salt is slowly eating away this abandoned saltworks town in the desert.

Its dark depths conceal millions of rare, delicate crystal formations.

An abandoned car and strange wooden debris are among the scattered remains of the old sand and gravel quarry.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

The quiet canyon has a tumultuous history involving a doomsday cult.

The world's largest wooden trestle stretches across this desert canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

This impressive tunnel was dug entirely by hand over the course of 36 years.

Carved by a waterfall in a hard-to-reach rock formation, this heart-shaped rock has inspired romantics for decades.

This tall and trim architectural oddity is one of the skinniest buildings in San Francisco.

A ruined hotel with an unlucky history and an eerie present.

Over 300 taxidermied animals in a Californian restaurant make for a taxidermist's dream and an animal lover's nightmare.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.